To Love a Demon
by Tairanda
Summary: One of the many reborn stories. However, in this one, FMC does not know Katekyou Hitman Reborn. Join in her adventures from birth, throught trials, till love, till death shall part them. Don't know pairing yet. (Previously called "Reborn".)
1. Chapter 1

So warm. So very warm. Why am I warm? It is winter outside. Why is it so warm? Last thing I remember was coldness. Burning coldness. But now it is warm, so that is all that matters. I open my eyes. It stings and it is dark, so I close them again. Now that I pay attention to my surroundings, I feel naked. And some kind of fluid is surrounding me. I try turning to my other side... it is hard. Something is preventing me from doing it easily. A feeling of clumsiness but not really, now that I think about it. How dull. I can't even find the right word to describe the feeling. Ah, wait. I remembered the word. Helplessness. I feel helpless that I can't even turn to my other side without problems. I didn't even know I could feel such a feeling, since usually I went with the flow and didn't have any problems.

How boring. I still am in the liquid-like space. I tried stretching but quickly found my movements to be limited. So I am in a confined space with liquid. And I can't breathe. When I tried to take a deep breath, I quickly stopped, since the fluid surrounding me entered my body and made we want to cough, which I can't do either, if you are wondering. What surprised me was that I found out that I didn't need to breathe. Somehow, don't know how, air reached my lungs on its own.

Counting has officially become my favourite pass-time, since that was the only thing that kept me sane and let me know that time is actually moving forward. Took me many tries but I have learned to count to ten thousand without mixing it up. And that is saying something. I have spent here many days, maybe even a month, if not longer. Stretching has become my second favourite pass-time. Why? Because I learned that after many stretches my bubble, as I have started to call where I am, it becomes bigger for some time, but then it shrinks again. I like when it is bigger, makes it easier to move around.

What's happening. I'm being moved form my bubble. I can feel it. Someone is forcing me out of it. It is getting suffocating tight and I am being pushed out of it, like an icing out of its containment, when decorating a cake. And I'm the icing. And I must say, I will never look at icing the same way. It hurts. And saying it hurts is an understandment.

After some time, which felt like hours, the torture finally ended. But now I am cold. And wet. I felt the liquid from my bubble around me and on me, which felt quite disgusting. I tried to open my eyes for the second time. This time I was greeted by blinding light, so I quickly shut them closed. Where they trying to make me blind? I heard voices around me, but I didn't understand what they said, since they were muffled and in a foreign language. Definitely not English. Suddenly, I was suffocating. I needed air, but before I could remember by myself how to breathe, after months of not breathing, someone took me by my leg and hit my but with such force that my vocal cords burst into a cry or pain and tears sprung my eyes, but I quickly forced them away. I was a big girl and big girls didn't cry from pain. They cried of a broken heart and someone close dead and now was neither the case.

Along with my cry, my eyes opened again. After few moments my eyes got used to the light and I took in my surroundings. I was taken aback on how big everything was. And that I was up-side-down, held by one leg. I glanced around the room and saw that is was a medical room with multiple doctors in it and a female in labour. Wait. Why are they so big? Could it be? No, it can't. It is impossible. Have I been the females womb and been born? That is impossible. This has to be a dream. A bad one. Of all the wacky dreams I have had, this one tops them all. Yes. It has to be a dream. I fell asleep in the burning cold and now am dreaming. It has to be it. Or I am about to have a heart-attack from the shock of being born.

Okay. What to do in shock situation? Ah, yes. Breathe. Take a deep breath, hold it for few seconds and let it out slowly. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Gah! I can't hold my breath for more than two seconds. My lungs are puny. Okay, still, breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Yes. That's it. Just breathe. Everything will be alright. I will wake up from this dream and everything will return back to the way it was.

Odd. Usually I understand what people are saying, but now they are speaking a foreign language. No matter. If I am a baby in this freaky dream, I don't need to understand them. New born babies aren't supposed to understand what grown-ups are talking anyway. And this is just great. My calming activities made me miss my new name.

Now I am being taken away from my new mother to the incubator or what-ever it is called; the room where babies are put to wait for their mothers to get well again and pick them up to take them to their new home. What a horrid place to be. It stinks of pee and poop and other babies are crying. Isn't this place supposed to be sterile? Oh wait. My bed is clean. So another baby pooped in his diapers. Ew. That is just gross. I hope I don't get to that part. Ah, the nurse is coming. Quick. Get rid of that poop. It stinks. And the cries of the brats, I mean, the babies, are giving me a head-ache.

Thank God the nurse heard my silent plea and took the stench away y turning on the ventilator and taking the pooping baby to wash it. Wait. Did I just call a baby 'it'? Meh. Doesn't matter, since I don't know if the baby is a he or she. And what better way to refer to the unknown gender baby than 'it'? Yes, definitely the best. But I am rambling here. But what else I can do than ramble in my head, since I can't talk. Wait. I can't talk? Why I think that I can't talk? Oh, right. I'm a fricking baby. But it doesn't hurt to try, right? And so I tried to say an easy word, but all that came out was a gurgling sound of my saliva making bubbles then bursting. Ew. All that saliva I hadn't swallowed is now dripping down my chin. It is so disgusting. I tried to wipe it off, but my limbs didn't exactly follow my commands, or more precisely, they were so undeveloped that they couldn't do what I told them to do. So I decided to cry, like babies do when they want something, but not with tears. That would be bellow me.

Soon a nurse came to me, to see what I needed. The instant her face appeared above me, I stopped wailing and tried to talk again, letting the saliva drip down my chin, hoping that the nurse would understand that I wanted her to wipe off the liquid off my face. Alas, she didn't understand. She started to coo at me and picked me up and carried me back to my dream mother. I looked at her to see a woman that was to be my mother in this dream to see a heart shaped face and long wavy black hair with no fringe and bangs framing her face. Her eyes were acorn green colour with a yellow flower around her iris. What interesting eyes. I haven't seen such eyes before.

I was put in her arms and my head was moved to her breast. Wait. Breast? Breast-feeding? No way in f-ing Hell. No. Bad me. I must not swear. But still. Breast feeding? Not happening, not on my watch. I put my puny hands on the naked breast and pushed it away, as much as I could, but still it was shoved in my face. I held my mouth shut, as I frowned and pushed the breast away from me. The nurse said something in a confused voice and the breast was covered. How nice. I let out a giggle to let them know I was pleased that their puny brains understood that no breast-feeding was going to happen. At least for now. Hmmm. The woman's hold was warm. Sure, I was in diapers and blanket, but that didn't mean I didn't want additional warmth. After the burning cold and feeling the wombs warmth, I wanted warmth very much. I carved it. So I moved closer to the mother figure, which caused the two females to giggle. Must have been a cute sight, a drooling baby moving closer to its mother. All would be nice if I could get rid of the dripping saliva. Oh, I got an idea. Why not wipe it off in the hospital grown? So I did that. Still think I'm cute? I was taken away from mother. Thought so. Not so cute after all. There was a lot of drool to wipe off, which is why I giggled again.

But in the reality I wanted to cry. I was not waking up, which made me think that I might have died in the snow. Now that I think about it, it was stupid of me not to seek for shelter before falling asleep. It would have taken a miracle for me to survive a winter night out in the snow with no source of warmth. I must have really died. And reborn. As a baby. And why do I still remember my old life. Do all babies remember their old life and then forget it? Or only those whose soul is reborn? I remember reading that souls have multiple lives. The older is the soul, the wiser is the person in life. Of course, it is just beliefs of the living, with no proof to back it up. Would be cool if I don't forget my old life and still have all the knowledge of my old life. School would be so easy, since I would already know everything. Except history and my new language. All I can tell from what I have heard is that it I Latin origin. I hope it is Italian. I always had wanted to learn Italian, but fell asleep before I could. Yes, I'm still having the more pleasant option in my mind that am sleeping and that it is a long dream.

Suddenly, I got very nauseous. So I puked on the nurse. She was not happy. She took me back to the crib and put me in it, after which she went away, probably to clean herself up. I giggled. That was fun. Except the stomach acid aftertaste in my mouth. Hate it. No. Strongly dislike. Hate is a powerful word, just like love, and should not be used lightly. I dislike when people describe shallow emotions with strong words. Anyhow, I'm back in my crib, bored out of my mind. It seems it is time for me to do my favorite past time - counting.


	2. Chapter 2

Time passed slowly. I don't know if it is a good thing that we had a clock in the incubator or not. At least, when I counted time seemed to move faster than watching it tick by. After few more breast-feeding attempts, the nurses understood that I would not be breast fed. So, they gave me warm milk for babies from a bottle. I had resigned myself to bottle fate, since I understood that they would not give me real food or even let me drink the mild from a glass. At least, a bottle was better than the breast. If other babies had their previous life memories, why do they allow themselves to be fed by breast? It sounds so disgusting. Anyhow, if you are wondering, after a day I had given up on the second last strand of belief that this was all just a wacky dream. But I held to the last strand, just in case I woke up.

Days went by slowly, but finally I was put in the baby carriage and taken to my new home. I didn't see much of the road, only blue sky with some clouds. And it was very warm. Must be summer. But then again, I was all rooled up in blankets like a burrito. When we reached our destination by car, my mother went inside, leaving my father to deal with me. I forgave her, since she must have still be tired. I hear child briths can be very vexing and exhausting. My new father, or I thought he was my new father, was a middle aged man with short crooped black hair and azure blue eyes. I couldn't say that we was very handsome, like my mother was beautiful, but he had a certain aura around him that could attract people to him. Like moth to a flame.

I was carried to my new room (I sure use the word 'new' a lot! I'll try to stop that.) to find it quite pleasent, for a baby, but not my taste. The walls were light blue and the ceiling was white. They must have not known whether I will be a boy or a girl, so they made the room good for both gendres. I would prefer purple walls with black and silver decorations and lilac ceiling. I'll get to that look later, when I'm older, since now I am supposed to be too young to have my own taste. I was unwrapped from my burrito and put into a white crib. A white crib in a light room. How clishey. Couldn't have they chosen a dark wood instead?

Hey, hey, hey! Where are you going? My father had turned around and walked away, leaving me alone in my room. You are supposed to entertain me, make me feel comfortable in the new atmosphere, not leave me alone. Oh, wait. I'm not alone in the room. With the courner of my eye I saw someone, so I turned my head in that someones direction to see a tall male in his twenties, probably, with very spiky blond hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in a black striped suit and had a cape over his shoulders, held close with a silver fastening. Was fastening the right word? Was the young adult a my oldest brother? No, mother didn't look that old to have a twenty plus year old son, while my father could. So, half-brother? I giggled at him, and reached my hand to him. But the male only smiled and shook his head. He said something in a foreign language, latin origin, took out and looked in a golden pocket watch, and disappeared while I blinked.

Who was he? And how did he disappear like that? And father didn't seem to notice his presence either, or chose to ignore it. Bad relationship maybe? Anyway, he was very handsome. If my legs wouldn't be jelly already, his smile would have turned them into a jelly. Vey handsome, and charismatic. He also held the aura of an important person around him that could make everyone give him way. And the attraction aura was there, as well. It was even stronger than that of my father. Attraction aura plus very handsome? A 100% lady killer. Gyah! I'm going fangirlish on a person I just met! Good thing I'm still a baby and he disappeared. Otherwise I would have made myself a fool. Scratch that. It is a bad thing that I'm a baby, yet good thing that he is away.

Time ticked by, so I decided to reminisce on my previous life and then recollect my knowledge from school and university. My life had been somewhat good. I had had both parents and we had enough money to live by, not wealthy, but not poor either. My mother was a psychologist while father was a teacher. They wanted me to have good marks and I tried to keep them good, however on P.E. I barely scratched an avarage. My major was arts. I could draw fairly well and write a decent short story for literature class, however my passion was cello. The deep notes of cello resonated through my mind and body, letting me relax after a stressful day, since even going with the flow could be stressful. Usually I played in the evenings before bed.

Anyway, my life was somewhat good till it happened. I had been kidnapped and transported who-knows-where. I had been raped, which was quite a shocking experience, however, I didn't resist, since I understood that it would not stop them and would result in more pain than I already had been from the beating for giving a cold shoulder. However, the cold shoulder had not been intentional. I had never been very open, I was an introvert, everything happened in my mind, while my face remained impassive. The kidnappers should have been happy that I was a silent victim, not screaming my lungs out or crying pathetically. I no longer remember how (must be shock or memories starting to fade) but I managed to escape. It was winter outside, snowing heavily. It had passed at least a month from my kidnapping, since it had been still autumn when I had been kidnapped. Which meant that I had been used as a sex toy and beaten for at least a month. Okay, breathe. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. No need to start panicking about it now, since it is already over. I hope I don't get a trauma about it. I don't want to have to go to doctors and talk about it, and fabricate information to explain the sudden fear of bulky men. Hmmm... my new father was quite bulky, but I didn't feel fear from him. Must be his aura. Or the trauma has yet to settle in.

Anywho~ After escaping, clad only in knee length dress and a thin blanket (my jacket, shooes and underwear were taken away), I had walked around trying to see where I was, however, nothing was familiar, so I marched forward in random direction, hoping to find civilization that would help me. Alas, I had collapsed from cold and exhaustion and fell asleep in the burning cold.

Author note: Yes, the blond is Giotto, however, I have no idea what he is doing there. It was not my intention to put him there, he chose it himself. Oh well, time will tell his role.


	3. Chapter 3

"Eva, sweety, time to get up~" Sang my mother, trying to wake me up, but I didn't respond. I was warm and comfortable in my crib. I was a deep sleeper, it took a lot of effort to wake me up, if I was warm. Luckily, my mother had not yet learned that all she had to do was take away my blanket to wake me up. That is, luckily for me.

"I'm going to eat your breakfast." She threatened, but it did not wake me up. I did not find my breakfast delicious, since it was not chocolate flavour. She did not know that I loved chocolate. And baby food was not all that delicious. It reminded me of a stinky pile of poo, only without the poo stench.

"I'm going to wake away your teddy bear~" She warned in sing-songy voice, but it didn't wake me up either. It was not my white fox from my old life. A sigh left her lips. It was a ritual happening every morning, with me not waking up, no matter how she threatened me. In the end, she left me to sleep as long as I liked. But today was different.

"Alright, Evangelina, sleep. But you will not get a birthday cake." Birthday cake? That make my eyes snap open. Had it really been a year since I died and my new life started as Eva? She must be serious, since never before she called me Evangelina. Was it my full name? I hope not, since I don't like being called Eva. It is too... saint-like for my liking. And Angela is also too saint-like for my liking. Lina or simply Lin would be nice.

"There we go, birthday girl." Mother said as she picked me up. I only looked at her with curious eyes. Part of me wanted to go back to sleep, while the other part wanted to see my presents. My new mother had grown used to my silence. At the beginning she was worried, but after a doctor's visit she calmed down, since the doctor explained that sometimes the babies were more quiet than others. So, my new mother decided to get me to talk, to show some reaction to what she is saying, by reading using different voices for different characters in books. Alas, her efforts were fruitless, since I chose to remain silent as before, which is why she stopped reading for me.

Suddenly a thought popped into my mind. Why not give my mother a present, as if I were a Tolkien's hobbit? As that thought popped into my mind, I felt the now accustomed presence of the blond male with sparkling blue eyes that showed great wisdom. He smiled at me and nodded, as if knowing my intent and encouraging it. So, I opened my mouth and said "Lin."

It was not a gurgle, but a morpheme of my name, which I pronounced correctly, loud and proud, as they say. It caused mother to squeal in happiness, since I had not said anything before in her presence. Usually, I practiced my speech quietly, either at night or when the door to my room was closed.

The blond male had still yet to introduce himself or even speak to me out-loud. All he did was watch me, smile at me, from time to time look into his golden pocket watch and disappear just as he randomly appears. I deemed him as a ghost, since that was the only logical explanation I could come up with... or an angel sent to watch over me, if I thought of something more magical. Either way, he visited me so often, that I could even feel it in the air, when he appeared. I put it under the title 'it has something to do with his royal aura' that I could sense his presence.

"Say mama." My mother gushed at me, taking me out of my reverie. I looked at her, thought a bit and said with a smile: "Lin."

"Yes, you are my little Lin-lin. Now say mama. Mama wants you to call her." She demanded again, with a smile on her lips and an excited voice.

"Lin-lin! Lin-lin!" I exclaimed in return with a laugh. I liked the sound of Lin-lin. Maybe I could get her to call me like that?

"Say mama." My mother asked again, as she took me to the kitchen, with the blond following, and put me into the baby-chair. This time I said nothing. She had her fun and now was time for me to be silent again. Unbeknown to her, I liked to hum melodies of songs of my previous life and often did that when the blond ghost came to visit me. It made me feel like I was a good host, as much as a baby could be, and his charming smile made the tiring humming worthwhile.

"Banana or apple?" Mother asked, holding baby food with each flavour in either hand. I thought a bit and reached for the banana flavoured one, since I was in the mood for bananas more than for apples.

"Banana it is~!" She chimed and put the apple jar on the table, putting the banana away, however she didn't fool me. I saw what she was deliberately doing, so I wailed. I was not a stupid baby who didn't know what it wanted and how it looked like.

"Ah, my bad~!" Mother sang as she exchanged the jars and came to me with the banana flavoured one and a spoon. I insisted in my thoughts that I could eat on my own now, since I could also walk on my own, however she insisted to feed me still. Maybe it made her feel needed. They say that kids grow up fast, yet kids think that they grow slowly. I can't really tell which one is correct, since time flows the same and the seeming speed moves depending how busy you are, and adults tend to be busier then their kids.

After breakfast, mother decided that I needed a bath, even though I was not dirty. But if she decided that I needed a bath, there was nothing I could do to stop her. She filled the tub with warm water till about one fourth of the bath and put me in the water and took the shower to let the water rain on me. For some reason unbeknown to me she let the water on my chest and shoulders, but not on my back. I didn't like it, since I liked the feeling of warm water against my back. I tried to take the shower's handle in my own hands, but mama would have none of it, praying my fingers from the handle.

After the shower and drying me, I was dressed in a frilly pink dress. Yes, the one I hated. Sure, the dress was pretty, but I was not a person to wear pink unless forced, which I was. I even pushed it away and said 'no', but mother still forced me to wear it. Maybe I should use the first chance to get it dirty? But with mother watching me like a hawk, it would be problematic. But I won't give up! I will ruin this dress! Hearing a chuckle, I turned to the source to see the blond laughing. It surprised me, since it was the first time I heard the blond let out any sound. Could he read my thoughts? I wondered and he showed an amused smile, which made my baby face make a frown. He was having fun at my expense!

"Who are you?" I thought, hoping that he would hear it and answer. However, he only shook his head with that charming smile adorning his lips. It was clear that he was saying that he won't tell. But his chuckle was enough to tell that he had quite deep voice. Nice~... Oh dear, am I infatuated with a ghost? Hahaha... that reminds me of Phantom of the Opera. It was a good movie with good music. Maybe I should hum it next time he visits when I'm alone? Sounds like a plan.

The next time came quickly. Mother put me in my crib and went somewhere, closing the door. So much for motherly love on birthday. So far all mother did in the mornings was wake me up, dress me, feed me and put me back in the crib till it was time to change the diaper or eat. I had been naive to think that my birthday would be different.

A frown must have appeared on my face, since I heard a stifled laugher, so I glared at the blond ghost. I mouthed him F U, pointing at him with my chubby finger. Shock appeared on the blond's face. This time it was his turn for a frown to appear on that pretty face. He shook his finger sternly, as if trying to convey that it was a rude thing to do. As if I didn't know that. I only stuck my tongue out at him, as if saying that there was nothing he could do to make me stop. He huffed and disappeared, this time without looking into his watch. Maybe I shouldn't have been rude? He was my only company, after all.

And so I sat in my crib in silence, with no company but my stuffed teddy bear who looked too creepy to be given to a one-year-old child. Really, what was that woman thinking of. Scratch that. She probably wasn't. To pass boredom, I decided to hum one of Kuroishi Hitomi songs, from my previous life. It always helped me to fall asleep back then. She had such soothing voice. Maybe it will help me now, as well...

While I sang in my head, humming the melody out-load, my blond friend appeared back again, this time with a white plush fox. My plush foxy! I reached my tiny hands towards the plush toy, but the blond only chuckled and waved his finger as a sign that I can't have it. That was so mean of him! I almost started to cry. Almost. I still remember that I'm a big girl and that big girls don't cry over such petty things. I need to get on his better side. Time to hum another song!

The song was Cinema Bizarre's After the Rain. A sad, yet beautiful song. The group had had only few albums before they disbanded. Sad. I really liked their songs, but this one was my favourite of them all. The sadness, need, emotions of this song always have brought tears to my eyes, and this time was no exception. Silent tears spilled down my cheeks. However, what surprised me was a gloved hand trace one of the tears away.

I looked up to see the blond ghost with his beautiful azure eyes sad, as he traced back up another shed tear. He must realize that I am more mature than my one-year-old body. I tried reaching for the white foxy, to hug it and hide my tears in it, but the ghost shook his head, his eyes still holding sadness, and spoke for the first time. "Later." It bought another melody from memories of previous life, from the same group.

This one was Silent Scream. But he only shook his head with another 'later' and disappeared the same moment the door to my room opened. I looked in that direction to see mother with a suspicious look in her eye.

"Is someone in the room, dear?" She asked in a kind voice, yet her eyes remained suspicious. She needn't know about my blond angel-ghost-thing, so I shook my head in dismissal. She glanced around the room one more time and the looked at me to notice my tear-stained face. She quickly came to me and scooped me up in her hands, and started rocking me, hoping to hush my crying down.

"There, there, dear, Eva. Everything is alright. No one is going to harm you. There is no one here. No need to cry, my dear, Eva." It would have been a calming gesture for a baby, but my new mothers voice was frantic. As if you was afraid of something. That something might happen. It was she who needed comfort, not me, so I decided to do what she wanted me to do an hour or so ago.

"Mama." I said and started to hum Beethoven's 9th Symphonies Ode of Joy for her, even though I had no way of knowing it in this life. But right now it was a minor fact. The major fact was that mother was panicking for some reason and needed to calm down. Where was papa when you needed him? The last time I saw him was one year ago, when he carried me inside the house. It made me think whether he really was my papa or not. Mother's panicked state wanted me to sing Alice Cooper's Brutal Planet, but it would not be appropriate, since it was metal genre, and would not ease ones nerves.

"Where did you hear the melody?" mother asked before I managed to finish the 13 minute long ode, getting distracted from whatever had her distraught. Plan success, however, I only looked at her with big eyes. Time to act innocent!

"Lin-Lin! Lin-Lin!" I exclaimed happily. It caused mother to pout with a smile on her lips. All stress gone and a smile on the lips. Mission success. Ah, the minor accomplishments done by a baby. If only mama knew what happened inside my head. Though, better not. It is better for her sanity not to know that her child can do higher mathematics in her head probably without mistakes. I would be named not a genius, but a Wunderkind, which generally meant child-prodigy, but when said as a foreign word with a capital letter it sounded something more, more like the literal meaning 'miracle child' - an even higher level than the simple word 'genius'.

In the end, all mother did was place me back in the crib, put the scary-looking teddy next to me and left the room. The first thing I did was push the teddy away. I did not like or want it. Since I did not know when mother or ghost-friend will return, and I was not sleepy, I started to do random equivalents in my head.

A/N: I still don't know what Giotto is doing there XD


	4. Chapter 4

It was late afternoon, when the doorbell rang, which caused my attention to perk up. We rarely had any visitors. Maybe it was my papa, who finally decided to show up? Alas, the thought was dispersed as I head a female's voice that didn't belong to my mother. A sigh escaped my lips and I stretched hoping to get the stiffness out of my limbs, even though I knew it would not help. My limbs were stiff all the time, even when I was allowed to take a few steps on my own.

Then I heard something that caused dread to appear in my organism. Cooing. Cooing that was not directed at me. Sure, I disliked to be cooed, but if it was directed at someone else, it meant that there was another baby in the facility. A stinking, drooling and, most of all, loud baby. It seemed like I will finally see other 'peers' again. The previous time I saw a baby was in the hospital, which was a year ago. Yes, you head right, a year ago. All this year, I had been cooped up in this house, mainly in my own room, with the only contact being my mother and the handsome, blond ghost.

To tell the truth, I was not looking forward to this meeting. I don't recall ever liking small children. They were too loud for me. That and I lacked the maternal instinct to find them cute. They were too… chubby for my liking. I liked better when they were more grown, slimmer and could keep their mouth shut.

My mother came into my room and picked me up, only to take me to the living room. There I saw a woman with wavy shoulder length blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. But her face was gaunt and her body was not better. In her arms she held a chubby baby with very short hair. For my eyes, the only indication that the baby was a girl was the plain green dress she wore.

Did that family have little money? That was the only explanation that came into my mind, but then I noted that the mother was not so plainly dressed. That confused me. An anorexic woman in quite expensive looking clothes, yet the child was plainly dressed. Could it be that the mother didn't have money for fancy looking clothes for her daughter to wear for the occasion? Or that she cared more about her own looks? But if she cared more about her own looks, she would put some meat on her bones, because she looked starved. Or was this the period were female models were all skin-and-bones and shallow women followed them? All those questions and assumptions popped into my head one after another, making me tilt my head to the side.

"Eva say hi to aunt Jesey and Gabriel." My mother said in an overly happy voice, while holding my hand and slightly shaking it, so that my palm would make greeting gesture. But I only started with big, wondering eyes. What's with the religious names? I'm Evangelina, she is Gabriel. Did they agree on it beforehand? I looked closer at Gabriel and noted that above blue eyes there was a pair of brown eyebrows. Huh, so the short hair on the child's head was brown.

Now that I think about it, I don't know how I look, not my hair color, not my eye color. It gave me a slight depression, causing my eyes to become sad and wonder down to the floor.

"What's the matter with Evangelina? She seems sad." Jesey asked in a worried tone, which sounded fake to my ears.

"Oh, don't worry. She is just a quiet child. I'm sure it's nothing. Let's leave them on the carpet and talk over a cup of coffee." My mother said in a dismissive tone, waving her hand as to shoo the question away. Now that made me frown for good. I did not mind being put down, since it meant I could walk around, but I did not want to be near the salivating baby, who would most certainly cry the moment she wanted attention.

When the females left for the kitchen, to talk their own big-folk talking, I stood up as soon as I could, only to fall on my bum. Great, my legs are again too weak to walk. I tried to stand up again, only to fall down. The baby, Gabriel, only looked at my with inquisitive eyes and clapped her tiny hands with a laugh every time I fell down. Just great. My failure amused the child. I suppose it is better than wailing…

With few more tries I succeeded without falling down. I stood tall in triumph for a few moments, letting the legs adjust to the weight of my body, and carefully took a step forward, hands stretched to the sides for more balance. Slowly I took step-by-step towards the exit of the room. Even though I was in the hurry of getting out of the room where Gabriel was, I didn't hurry since I didn't want to fall over. I stopped by the kitchen's door to take a peek in the said room to see what the 2 females were doing. My mother was making something while Jesay was sitting by the table, both immersed in their own conversation. I decided to take the chance and get past the room without them noticing. My goal was my room.

I narrowed my eyes in determination and took a step one after another, praising the carpet beneath my feet muffling the sound of my steps. Once I was in the safety of my room, I carefully closed the door, till a small part of it was open, because the click of the door would have alerted the adults. I let out a sigh and started humming Silent Scream again. I walked over to the bookshelf in my room and carefully pulled out a book from the lowest shelf. The book was heavy, however, its small fall was muffled by the carpet. I looked at the cover to discover a latin origin language but the picture made me realize that it was Snowwhite and the Seven Dwarves. At least, I will be making some sense of what I will read.

I was half-way through the book, when I hear a photo snap, which caused my head to snap in the sound's direction. There was my mother and her friend standing in the doorway, mother holding a photo camera.

"See? I told you she would be fine on her own. Eva is a smart girl and doesn't do anything naughty." My mother gushed making me want to roll my eyes, however, I resisted the temptation. It wouldn't be nice if I did that. That, and babies don't roll their eyes about the antics of their parents. Usually, it is the other way around. But, then again, my mind was probably older than hers', and, unlike her, I dislike children and don't find their actions cute.

Deeming their attention was not worth my time, I returned to slowly skimming through the pages, in hopes to learn the language, which's name I have yet to learn. At least, I've grown to understand it a bit. Alas, I wanted a dictionary in the said language to English and back again. It would really help me learn. But who would give one-year-old a dictionary? Everyone would be afraid that the child would rip the pages out.

Mother started to say something else about me, but I was saved by the bell ringing at our entrance door. Both women went to see who it was, taking Gabriel with them. Odd. Today we sure have a lot of guests. Maybe it really is my birthday? Alas, my pondering was interrupted by a high-pitched wail, making me cringe at the sound. Why did babies have to be so loud and their voices high-pitched? I decided not to be a curious child and continued trying to read Snowwhite, while looking at the pictures, trying to make sense of the foreign language.

After a couple more rings by the door, mother finally decided to pay attention to me. She picked me up and took me to the living room. Dread filled my body seeing six peers on the carpet. I clutched my mother's clothes, not wanting to let go. Unfortunately, mother would have none of it and pried away from her clothes and set me down next to Gabriel.

I stood up and tried to walk away, but mother pushed me back down. I stood up again, only to be pushed down.

"Stay here." Mother said firmly, causing me to frown.

"No." I said back and tried to stand up again. This time I was allowed to stand up, but, as I was about to start leaving, mother picked me up and sat me in her lap.

"What has gone into you today, Eva? Usually, you do as you are told." Mother said with a huff in her voice. I only pointed at the group of babies and hid my face in her clothes.

"Oh, you must be afraid of them. Don't worry, dear, they won't harm you." She tried to reason with me. I suppose it is better for her to think that I was afraid of them rather than knowing I despised their drooling and loudness. I shook my head, still hiding my face in her clothes.

"Now, now. Give them a chance. I'm sure you'll become friends with them." Mother tried to soothe my nerves by petting my head. I still shook my head.

"I'm sorry, this is the first time she's seeing other people. She's just shy." Mother told the adults. "Usually, she is a very quiet and obedient child. She doesn't cry and doesn't break or rip things."

Mother put me back on the carpet, hoping that I would stay, however, I stood back up and took my baby steps towards my room, arm stretched up to the sides to hold balance. I was allowed to take few steps away before I was picked up again and put next to one of the babies whose name I didn't know, and didn't even want to know.

"Wait here and I will bring the cake out." Mother bribed me. Cake? This caught my attention. I really hope it's chocolate.

"Cake! Cake!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands. This time I remained in my spot. I was getting hungry and wouldn't say 'no' to a cake. Seeing that I wasn't moving to get up, mother went to the kitchen, taking the adults with her, leaving me alone with the six babies.

I waited patiently for mother to bring the cake out, however, after few minutes of waiting, I decided to go and see where she had disappeared to. Standing up and my wobbling legs, I took a step by step towards the kitchen. Once there, I peeked in the room, while hiding half of my body behind the door frame. What I saw made me frown. Mother was sitting by the table along with the other adults, chatting.

"Cake! Lin-lin cake! Mama! Cake!" I cried out with the frown adorning my baby face. The adults looked at me with mixed feelings. Some with a frown, some with a surprised expression, while the rest had a smile on their faces.

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear. You'll have to wait for the cake a while longer. The cake isn't ready yet." Mother said in an apologetic voice. A deeper frown adorned my face and I went to my room, stomping my tiny feet on the carpet. A chuckle came from behind me, which caused me to look back only to see no one. This confused me, but decided not to ponder long about it, so I continued my way.

In my room I saw that the Snowwhite book was put back in its place in the bookshelf. Seeing that I had almost finished with it, I paid no attention to it and took out the next book from the lowest shelf. It was Red Riding Hood. All it took was a glance at the cover to tell it. But, then again, all of the shelves held similar books, ones meant for children, as far as I could tell. I should really learn to read the language. However, I couldn't suddenly start speaking a lot all of a sudden, and in long sentences.

While I was glancing at the pictures, while trying to read the text in the pages, I noticed someone at my room's door, so I looked at that person. It was a child who appeared to be older than the other guests. He had blue hair, which seemed unnatural to me. Who had blue hair? But it didn't look dyed either. In addition, it seemed bruised. Probably from a fight.

"Hello." The boy said with a small smile on his lips, which caused a surprise to appear on my face.

"Hello." I said back. I saw no reason why to say anything more.

"Your name is Eva. Am I right?" The boy asked.

"Lin-lin." I said back the nickname I preferred better.

"My name is Mukuro. I'm happy to meet you, Lin-lin." He introduced himself politely, as if he had been taught to introduce himself like that.

"Mukuro hair strange." I told him, which caused his unharmed eye to twitch. Hmmm... maybe I shouldn't have said that. However, now it was too late to take it back.

"Kufufufu... Your's not much better." The boy said back.

"Explain." I asked him, hoping that he would tell me what my hair looked like.

"I could, but I doubt that you would understand." Mukuro told me.

"Try me." I rebuked, which caused surprise to appear on his face.

"Kufufufu... seems like someone is hiding some secrets." The blue haired boy teased.

"Tell me how I look like." I asked, hoping that he would oblige.

"Your hair is lavender color, while your eyes are green." He told me and then chuckled at my expression.

"You're joking." I told him with a dead-pan voice.

"The same way my hair is blue." He replied back. "I was surprised to see my hair color for the first time. Don't worry, you'll get used to it after a while."

"Why aren't you surprised at my behavior?" I asked him.

"Because this isn't my 1st life, either." He replied with as knowing smile that bordered with a smirk.

"Will I forget my previous life, later?" I wanted to know.

"No. Not completely. If you remember your previous life even now, it means you won't forget it. The memories will sink deeper into your mind, seemingly disappearing. However, they will be only shadowed by this life's memories, still surfacing from time to time." Mukuro explained.

"Which life is this for you?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Curiosity killed the cat." He answered with a smirk.

"But satisfaction brought it back." I rebuked.

"Maybe I'll tell you, if we meet again." He replied and left the room, leaving me pondering about his words. After a little while, I decided not to think about it, guessing that it would only bring a headache, so I returned to the book.

After some time mother came into the room and picked me up, saying that the cake was ready. I decided to forgive her her lies and deceive the moment was the cake. It was chocolate. I clapped my tiny hands in happiness. I looked at my surrounding people to see Mukuro by the table, as well. He was the oldest of the children. On one hand, I liked to know that I wasn't the only one with older mind than the body. On the other hand, I didn't know how to feel about the stranger knowing about it.

Mother cut the cake and put a piece of it in front of me with a spoon, right out of my reach, and continued cutting the cake and giving out the pieces to the guests. I reached for the spoon next to my cake, but mother took it for me and offered cake from it. I frowned and tried to take the spoon from her but to now avail. However, with the corner of my eye I saw that Mukuro was watching it with amusement. I frowned deeper.

Another person having fun at my expense. It was already the second person today! First Gabriel, now Mukuro. How was that fair? I didn't have any fun on other ones expense, or even my own. With a huff I opened my mouth and let the chocolately treat enter it. I really loved chocolate too much. Maybe it wouldn't have been so embarrassing to let myself be fed in front of adults, if there wouldn't be a certain child that knew that I was older than I looked like.

Once I was done with my piece of cake, I saw that I wasn't the only one fed. All of the children were, except for Mukuro. Unfortunately, it didn't save m dignity, since the blue haired buy had an amused expression on his face while looking at me. I knew I should have pretended to be a regular baby in front of him. Eh... Now it was too late, either way. Best to concentrate on the present, and, speaking of the present, it was time to open my presents.

"Gifts!" I exclaimed greedily. I wanted a new toy to sleep with, since the bear was too scary. Mother looked at me in surprise.

"Where did you learn that word?" She asked.

"Lin-lin! Lin-lin!" Was my answer, which caused her to pout.

"Alright. We will open the presents now." Mother huffed, while I clapped my small hand and jumped in my seat. Hearing a chuckle, again, I turned my head to see who was laughing, already guessing who it was. Mukuro had a hand in front of his mouth, all while looking at me, so I looked at him with a look in my eye that said "what? I'm a baby." Seeing it made the boy shake in laughter, trying to hold it in.

Deciding to let him be, I turned to my mother expectantly waiting for her to start giving my presents or take me to them. She picked me up and sat me in the sofa and told me to wait right there and left to the kitchen with other adults. Mukuro took his chance an climbed in the sofa next to me.

"You sure know how to hide your true age." He mused with a smirk on his lips.

"A baby has to be, or at least act, innocent." I replied with a smile on my lips. However, I frowned since I saw my blond ghost appear and see him frown at the blue haired boy.

"What's wrong?" Mukuro asked and then looked in the direction I was looking but gave no indication that he could see the ghost.

"Nothing. Just a memory." I lied, however, when he opened his mouth to say something, he closed it and looked at the door, so I looked as well to see my mother with two boxes in her arms, while the rest had only one. But what caught my attention was that on top of the two boxes in mothers hands was a white fox toy. It made me clap my hands and jump in my seat in true happiness. Finally I'll get a decent toy to sleep with and hide tears within! Yes, I cried sometimes with no apparent reason, but usually was from humming sad yet beautiful songs and melodies.

I wanted to demand the fox and ignore the rest of the presents, since, most likely, they would be baby stuff. If my blond ghost hadn't smuggled the fox in the presents, I wouldn't be getting it either. However, I couldn't say things that babies didn't know to tell in front of the adults. Mukuro was different. He knew I wasn't a baby, well, true baby. So, I did the only thing I could do. I reached my tiny hands towards it.

„Here they are, your presents." Mother said with a smile and put the boxes on the sofa next to me. I was quick to reach for the fox and, once it was in my hands, hug it to mu body, not wanting to let go.

„What about the rest of the presents, dear? Won't you open them?" Mother asked, not expecting an answer, however, I surprised her by shaking my head and hugging the toy closer.

„Now, now, Eva. It is not nice to ignore other presents like that." Mother admonished me. I looked at her, blinked and looked at the presents, then at mother, back at the presents, and then at Mukuro who still had an amused expression on his face. He was clearly having fun. I huffed and turned back to the presents. I was not looking forward to opening them, now that I had my white foxy. I put the plush toy in my lap and reached for the first box, however, it was too big for my tiny hands to hold it properly. I looked at mother who was looking at me expectedly.

„Do you need help, dear?" She asked and I nodded my head but then I paused. Wasn't I too young for opening my own presents? Do one-year-olds open their own presents? Deciding that it didn't matter anymore, I continued looking at mama, waiting for her to open my presents for me. The first thing she did was take away my foxy. I quickly reached for it, since I didn't want to part with it. Seeing my reaction, mother put the toy next to me and put the first box in my lap. I was in a yellow wrapping and an orange ribbon. From which end I was supposed to open it? Do I untie the ribbon first or rip the wrapping? I was a dilemma between my mind and body.

Seeing my hesitation, mama took my hand and wrapped my fingers around the ribbons end and gave a tug, letting me know what she wanted me to do. Now that mother dispersed by dilemma, I gave a harder tug at the ribbon, and it gave in by starting to move. With a harder tug the ribbon untied itself, leaving the wrapping between me and the opening of the box. I inwardly sighed. I was no other way to open it without ripping it, so that was what I did, leaving the box naked. It was a simple carton box with no decorations or anything. I didn't pay attention to it and opened the box. Inside there were large plastic blocks in different shapes and sizes. I stared with dull eyes at them, no excitement in them. I wanted to sigh but couldn't, so instead I simply pushed the box out of my lap and took the white fox toy back in my arms.

„Eva!"Mother exclaimed in surprise. I only stared at her with a bored expression. „You don't do that with presents! Pick them up!"

I gave no indication that I would do what she told me to do. Instead, I hugged the white toy closer to my body. It was all I needed, all I wanted. The other things seemed trivial. Besides, do one-year olds clean after themselves? I knew nothing of being a baby, how to act and behave other than being loud and obnoxious when they wanted something, and I already ignored it, by being a quiet child. Seeing my reaction, mother sighed and kneeled on her knees to pick everything up. Part of me wanted to get off the sofa and help her, but the other half of me wanted to stop being such and obedient child, since nothing interesting had happened in my previous life, while being one, except getting the cello. I fully intended to get one in this life, as well. I would be thrilled to get my previous life's cello, however, it was too big to be smuggled in between the presents, like the fox had been.

„Do you want to open any of the presents?" Mother asked once she had picked up the scattered blocks from the floor. I looked at the remaining boxes, then at mother, paused a minute and then shook my head in denial, after which I hid my face in my fox. Another sigh escaped mother's lips.

„What will I ever do with you now?" She asked not expecting an answer. She had mused out-load, so I made no indication of hearing her words. Instead, I turned my head to Mukuro to see him still having an amused smile on his lips. I decided to smile at him. Being annoyed at things out of your control would be no good, since they wouldn't change just because I wanted them to.

„Oh my... could it be that my little Eva has already found someone who she likes?" Mother gushed after seeing my behavior towards the blue haired boy. This made both Mukuro's and me to frown and our eyebrows to twitch for a second. In addition, we both looked at her with an expression that asked if she was sane.

„Gyah! Even their expressions are the same! They must have been meant for each other." Mother seemed not to notice, or simply ignore, the accusations in our eyes in favor of being an annoyingly over-excited mother. With the corner of my eye, I saw that Mukuro had an expression on his face that wanted to say something to the woman that would not be anything nice. I had similar wishes, but decided to hide my face in the white fox toy. I think, I'm starting to get embarrassed about her behavior; she was starting to act like a child more than me.

Suddenly, I felt someone pat my head. It was a small hand and the patting was light. I looked up to see Mukuro. He was the one patting my head, all while having a sympathetic look in his eyes and an amused smile on his lips. I looked at him in confusion in my eyes, however, his reply was continuing patting my head with a smile on his lips.

"Where is my camera? I want to film it!" Mother exclaimed in an overly excited voice, bringing Mukuro and me out of our little bubble. He retreated his hand, while I returned my head back in the white toy. Was she going to act like that all day long? I hope not. What brought by head back up was a sudden stench and a cry. I looked at the source to see a baby dressed in cotton pants and a shirt. He was crying. I glanced at Mukuro who had a look of disgust on his face. Mine probably had the same expression, only a baby version of it, since I had a lot more baby-fat on my face than he had. The worse thing was that the rest of the babies joined into a chorus of wailing.

It took me only a short moment to decide to try and get away from the guests. Those loud babies were giving me a head-ache. I moved to the edge of the sofa and peered down to see how long the fall would be. Quite high for a baby, probably around my current height. Nodding my head, I put the white fox to in front of me to cushion the fall and let myself slide down the edge. The top of my body landed on the toy, however, the knees didn't. The strung quite painfully, which made tears want to enter my eyes, however, I pushed them back as much as I could. Looking around, I saw that the adults were too busy with their babies, trying to calm them down, and that Mukuro was also moving to the edge of the sofa to get off. Guessing that he was going to follow me to escape the loudness, I stood up, taking the white fox toy with me, and went back to my room, balancing myself so that I wouldn't topple over due to the additional weight. For a baby the toy seemed quite heavy. It took longer than usually, but I reached my goal with the blue-haired boy on my heels.

"Kufufufu..." the boy let out his unusual chuckle, causing me to look at him in confusion. I did not understand what was so funny.

"Why are you laughing?" I decided to ask.

"One second you act like a spoiled baby, the second you act obedient, while the third you act like an adult." He replied.

"I don't exactly know how to act. I'm a baby, yet my mind is a lot older. In addition, the last time I saw someone, other than mama, was a doctor months ago, when he had been called to take a look at me, since I was too quiet for mother's liking. She feared that there was something wrong with me. Other than that, the last time I saw someone else was in the hospital, when I was born." I explained him.

"Kufufufu…" The boy only chuckled.

"By the way, I have been wondering all this time, what language are we, exactly, speaking in? All I can tell is that it is Latin origin." I decided to ask him.

"Italian." Was the boy's reply, causing me to smile. Finally! Finally I'll know the language I had always wanted to know.

"Why are you smiling?" He asked.

"In my previous life all I knew was English, however, I had always wanted to learn Italian, but I died before I could start learning it." I replied smiling, however, the smile turned sour when the memories of the kidnapping surfaced. The smile became a bit less sour at the thought that, at least, I had died while being free, not captive.

"Why so sour all of a sudden?" Mukuro questioned.

"Just a memory." I dismissed and the blue haired boy decided not to press further, guessing that it was a skeleton in the closet.

"What's your full name, Eva?" He decided to ask instead, since he remembered that my mother had called me Eva, while I called myself Lin-lin.

"It's Evangelina, however, I don't like that name, and neither do I like being called Eva." I replied with a frown, daring the boy to call me Eva again.

"Then how I am to call you?" He asked.

"Lin-lin!" I exclaimed in a full-blown baby voice. Mukuro looked at me in question of my behavior, but then hear my mother call for me. Soon the room's door was opened by mother.

"There you are, Eva." She exclaimed, but then paused, as she noticed another presence in the room.

"Lin-lin! Lin-lin!" I replied to her, while making a baby-frown. I really hoped that soon she would understand that I didn't want or like being called Eva.

"What are you doing her, boy, not with the rest of the guests?" Mother asked.

"I was talking to Lin-lin." He replied politely.

"And what did you talk about?" Mother asked curiously.

"About how we did not like loud noises and that she did not like being called Eva." Mukuro replied truthfully, well, half-truthfully, since only half of it was the worded truth.

"How did you talk with her?" Mother pressed on.

"With words." Was the boy's reply, which caused mother to blink in surprise. Before they could exchange any other words, a male's voice called from the hallway.

"Mukuro! It's time to go to the doctor for him to see to your eye!" Hearing these words made the blue-haired boy to tense up, which surprised me. Why would a doctor's visit unnerve him? Him, for whom this was not the first life. Surely, he must know that doctor's weren't scary.

"It was nice talking to you, madam, and with you as well, Lin-lin." Mukuro said with a small bow and left the room. Mama picked me up and took me to the house's entrance to see both Mukuro and his father off. I waved goodbye to Mukuro on my own, sad that he had to leave. It made me remain alone with babies who had no manners, were too young to know them, and adults that treated me like one of those babies.

The rest of the day was uneventful. From time to time mother coaxed me into opening a present, only for me to dump it on the ground once opened, since it was baby stuff. In addition, I used every opportunity to retreat to my room away from the ruckus, all while holding my white fox toy close to my body.

* * *

A/N: As you can see, I finally have found out the time setting for this story. However, I don't know what the next chapter holds, so I can't say that they will meet again for certain. Or, at least, in the closest years.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. ^^


	5. Chapter 5

After my birthday, nothing happened. Day's returned to their routine. Mother trying to wake me up with half-hearted threats for me to ignore, and then let me sleep longer. When I woke up myself, I was fed, cleaned up and put back in the crib to spend the day on my own. However, one thing changed. At the first opportunity I threw the scary looking teddy bear out of my crib and, after the fifth time of me throwing it out, mother understood that I didn't like the bear. Now my constant companion was my white fox toy, which was a gift from my blond ghost friend.

Speaking of my ghost friend, I rarely saw him these days, making me feel lonely. Mother ignored me, my ghost friend no longer visited me every day, and my father, well… he was simply absent. I tried not to dwell on the sad thoughts, but being alone in a crib all day long made it hard. I wanted to learn, even though most of the student population in the world would consider me mad. I wanted to explore, since the crib with bars on each side made me feel a bit claustrophobic. It made me feel chained down, however, there was nothing I could do to change it. It was not like I could suddenly start speaking like an adult that I was inside. It would only scare mama and she would take me to doctors for them to explain the sudden change in me. There would be none to give. After all, it was abnormal for a one-year old to think and speak with intelligence and smart words, and not to stutter while saying big words, and so on.

From time to time I asked mother about Mukuro with word combination 'Mukuro' and 'visit'. I wanted to meet him again, since with him I didn't need to pretend. With him I could be myself, just like with the ghost friend, even though he rarely said anything. Company was company, so I didn't complain. But back to the Mukuro visiting topic, mother would always look at me with sad eyes as she told me that he couldn't come. I wondered why her eyes were sad as she said it. Was she lying or knew something I didn't know? Most likely the later, since she was a grown-up in this world and could make phone calls, and learn things, while I was stuck in a crib.

Time passed as it did, even though it seemed to move at a turtle's pace for me. I had returned to my old pass-time activity, which was counting, however, since I had yet to learn the number names in Italian, I did it in English, which had been my language in my previous life. Just like in mama's womb, it comforted me that time was moving forward, after all. When I didn't count, I hummed, and when I wasn't doing either of those two, I slept. There was nothing else I could do. I couldn't even play with the baby toys, since all the time I was in my crib. From time to time I wanted to curse this life, because my mind simply refused to become a baby's. It would have been easier if it were of a baby. However, then I remembered that I would be behaving like the rest of the toddlers, the way I hated. Loud and dirty. But, then again, I wouldn't care about such things.

Few months later my patience finally snapped with a loud wail coming from my mouth. Mother came running to my room and picked me up to calm me down.

"What's wrong, Eva?" Mother asked in hopes of a reply, which I obliged.

"Lin-lin walk! Lin-lin learn!" I loudly replied in a half-wail. "Lin-lin read! Lin-lin write!"

"You want to learn, dear? Alright, I will find you a teacher." Mama replied while rocking me.

"Mame teach!" I protested. I yearned to bound with her, since we had little contact, unlike my previous life, where me and my mama were friends.

"I would love to teach you, but mama has work to do." Mama replied apologetically. That made me shut up and look at the inquisitively. She was working? But she was home all the time. Did she work from home? But then I decided to be greedy.

"Lin-lin alone. Mama teach."

"I'm sorry for making you lonely. Mama will try to spend more time with you." I was hugged a bit too tightly for my liking, but didn't protest. I wonder how often she remembered that I was a baby, since she often spoke to me like I wasn't a baby and could understand what she said. I did understand, but that wasn't the point. The point was that she should be more attentive to her speech and behavior. One moment she treats me like a baby and the next as an adult.

"How about you come and watch mama work?" Now this seemed more interesting, so I clapped my tiny hands as an agreement. With that mama took me two doors from my room and opened the third ones. I was met by a bright room: yellow walls, golden curtains, white ceiling and wooden floor that wasn't covered by a carpet, unlike my room and the living room. Those two rooms were carpeted, since those were the only rooms I was allowed to be on my own. At least, that is what I believed.

Looking around the room with my big curious eyes I saw that it was a bedroom and an office, two in one. On one side of the room there was a double bed in which three people could sleep in if a need were to arise. The laundry on the bed was also yellow, along with the comforter. On both sides of the bed there was a wardrobe. On the other side of the room there was a large desk facing the room with a laptop and a vase of flowers on it, while behind it was an office-chair.

Mama took me to the chair and sat down, putting me on her lap. I was quick to draw my attention to the monitor to see what mama was working on. There was an open document with few paragraphs of text.

"Mama write?" I asked, looking up at her.

"Yes, mama write books." The black-haired female replied with a smile.

"Mama smart!" I decided to praise her a bit. It was nice to know that she was a creative person. She might understand my need for creative expressions later in life, when I intended to ask for a cello. Oh, how I missed playing it.

"Thank you, dear. But now, please, be quiet. Mama needs to concentrate to finish the book before dead-line comes up." Mama shushed me and I let her. Dead-lines were dead-lines. There was no way of making them go away, so I turned my attention back to the monitor and tried to read what this life's mama wrote. It was good that I already knew the letters and only had to try reading them correctly in my mind.

After an hour or so of writing mama saved the document and made a back-up on her usb memory stick. Then she picked me up as she stood up, so I looked at her, eyes asking for what was next.

"It's time to get something to eat. Can't work on an empty stomach, can we?" Mother explained, so I nodded my head in agreement. Mama put me in my baby-chair and took out a peach-flavored baby-food, which no longer tasted as repulsive as the concoctions what I had to drink as a new-born babe. That wasn't the only improvement over time. Now I was allowed to hold the spoon myself and try to eat without a mess. The first time I was allowed to eat by myself was simply awful. I had a horrible hand-spoon-mouth coordination, but it improved over time and now I was able to eat with almost no mess.

After dinner I decided to try again to get her call the blue-haired boys parents to let him visit me. "Mukuro visit?"

"I'm sorry, dear. He can't visit us. He lives in a faraway place now." Mother was quick to answer my question, as if expecting it, which I found a bit too quick to be the truth, or, at least, full truth. I understood that she was hiding something about him from me, but decided not to press the matter.

We returned to mother's bedroom, slash office, and I was again put on her lap, after which the female returned to her work. This time I let my eyes roam the room for something interesting. They found a mirror that reached the ground, so I tried to get off mother's lap to go to the mirror. I had yet to see myself even after all these months. Mother stopped typing to look at me.

"What is it, Eva?"

"What that?" I asked, pointing to the mirror.

"It is a mirror. In it you can see how you look like by yourself. Do you want to have a look?" Mama asked and I nodded my head. Saving her work, the black haired female stood up with me in her arms and went to the mirror. As I looked in the mirror, I saw a toddler with green eyes that didn't have mama's yellow flower around the pupil and lavender hair that needed a hair-cut to put it into some shape.

So Mukuro hadn't joked that I had lavender hair. It didn't seem ugly to me, only strange. I wonder how others would react to it. Children are cruel if they find something out of normal, after all, though there are adults like that, as well. Taking a closer look at my face, I saw some Eastern features though they weren't dominant. I hope I don't turn into an ugly mix of Eastern and European blood. Actually, I would prefer to look average, as much as it was possible with my hair. However, there was another thing that stood out a bit, other than my hair. Under my left eye there was a beauty mark. Luckily, it wasn't large. If I recall correctly, there were places around the world where it was also called a 'beauty mark', but even if it is so, I could be picked on about it. As I already said, children are cruel.

For the sake of being a curious child, I wiggled about in mother's arms, trying to reach the mirror. Mother took a step closer to the mirror, letting my tiny hands touch the cool surface. Just for the sake of the act, I tapped the glass surface of the mirror with my palms.

Other than seeing myself in the mirror, I think I saw the reason why mother often forgot that I was still a toddler. It were the eyes. They held wisdom, not child's innocence. Seems like I'll have to learn how to act, not only with my body language, but also with my eyes. Maybe I should try the drama club later on? Decisions, decisions… what would life ever be without them? Hmmm… maybe I should test the common belief that people, while still being at a very young age, were like sponge-bobs when it came to learning new things? But what to test it on? I already know English from my previous life and am quickly learning Italian, as now it was my 'mothers tongue'. I just hope my life would be one step back, two steps forward, not the other way around.

Suddenly, I made a humungous yawn. The need to sleep was starting to work its tool on me, as I was still very young and needed to sleep a lot to restore my quickly waning energy. Seeing my yawn, mother took me back to my room and put me in my crib. I quickly took a hold on my foxy and hugged it to my body, letting sleep take my consciousness.

†††

I woke up because someone was shaking me. Grudgingly, I opened my eyes to see that it was still dark. Wanting nothing more than falling back asleep, I closed my eyes but was shaken up again, so I opened them to see who it was who wasn't letting me sleep. Turning around, I saw that it was my mother. What surprised me was that behind her stood my ghost of a friend. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, but saw the blond ghost put a finger on his lips and mother put hers to my lips, both indicating me that I had to remain quiet. I closed my mouth and hugged the white fox closer to my toddler body.

Peering through the dark, I saw that mother was worried about something, which made me start to feel worried. Why would mama wake me up in the middle of the night? Looking her over, I was that she was dressed for going outside and had a backpack on her. Where would we going in the middle of the night?

Mother picked me up and tried to pry the white fox toy from my fingers, but I clutched it tighter and shook my head. There was no way I would let my only comfort go, one that wasn't in panic.

In the end, I won, though only later I realized that I had won only because it would have taken too much time to take it away with force and that I would have made a scene, which we didn't need at that moment.

Mother didn't leave through the door. Instead, she used the window. I found it strange, but decided that wiser would be to remain quiet and to bite my lip to remain silent. I didn't look back, knowing – feeling – that if I were to look back I would most probably see something I would regret seeing later on.

Mother was quick on her feet as she carried me through the nightly streets, clearly knowing where she was going, despite the lack of proper lighting. After few minutes, the quiet of the night was disturbed by far-away shouts that could clearly be heard due to the quiet stillness.

Mother picked her speed up to a jog. Her feet touched the ground quietly, barely making any sound. Before now, I didn't know that it was possible to run like that in real life. I had read it only books that some character ran like that in my previous life. But this was a strange world from the little I had seen.

I was getting very sleepy again, so I put my head on mama's chest and let her hear-beat lull me back to sleep, hugging the white plush fox toy more tightly.


	6. Announcement

Hello,

First of all, I would like to apologize to all of my followers for not uploading anything for some time. My health hasn't been the best and therefor my mind has been blank. I haven't been able even to beta-read the next chapter of Memories Rebirth (author vaporeonxglaceon). In addition, I have a lot of university work to do, if I want to be admitted to the exams in January.

Secondly, on a brighter note, I have 3 ideas in my mind, all 3 of different works, containing 1 OC. The worlds are: Katekyou Hitman Reborn, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and Lord of the Rings. Since I couldn't decide which world to chose, I decided to write all of them. So, you have 3 fandoms to look forward to. ^^

And lastly, **I AM LOOKING FOR BETA READERS**. If you think/feel that you are up to it, for any of my stories, feel free to apply. I won't bite. :P

Oh, and for those wondering. No, I am not cancelling the stories I am working on. I will work on them the moment I actually know how to move forward in them.

Sincerely your,

Tairanda


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